Axios: The world’s currency

Posted on June 14, 2026 by michelleclarke2015
count: 1,362 words … 5 mins.
 
 
1 big thing: The world’s currency
 
Illustration of a hundred dollar bill with stripes and zeros
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images
 
Planet Earth has roughly 180 currencies. But for a vast share of global transactions, people want to use just one: the United States dollar, Axios’ Neil Irwin writes.

🌏 Why it matters: This is a unique source of global power and responsibility. America’s role in the world over the next 250 years will be determined by its ability to maintain, and wisely steward, this role at the center of the global economy.

⚠️ Yes, but: Other nations are increasingly chafing at the power the U.S. wields thanks to the dollar — and they’re seeking alternatives.

💵 How it works: The dominance of the dollar in international trade and finance gives the U.S. the ability to exert its will far from our shores, without firing a gun.

This power is evident when the U.S. fines European banks for doing business with Iran or cuts off Russian oil companies from the mainstream financial system.

It has also fueled global demand for Treasury debt that allows the U.S. to borrow vast sums, especially in crises.

🧠 This primacy is based on policy choices and structures built over decades — in some cases, centuries.

👀 What we’re watching: Some of the underpinnings of U.S. dollar dominance are coming under question.

Sky-high U.S. fiscal deficits mean the world is being inundated with Treasury debt. The political independence of the Fed is in question. And many in the Trump administration see the costs of maintaining dollar dominance as a burden for Americans.

Perhaps most importantly, the U.S. has used the threat of cutting off access to the dollar-based global financial system as an increasingly all-purpose weapon for economic warfare. That means major U.S. rivals (China, Russia) and frenemies (India, Brazil) are eager for dollar alternatives

.✅ Reality check: So far, other leading powers seem to lack the willingness or ability to build alternatives.

More broadly, network effects are powerful things. Everybody uses dollars because everybody else uses dollars.

💰 The bottom line: The role of the U.S. dollar in the world is secure for now, much as America’s rivals might not like the status quo. But global angst is simmering, and as the Dutch and British learned long ago, no dominant currency is forever.
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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